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Lando Norris to become youngest British driver in F1 history after securing McLaren seat

Lando Norris will become the youngest British driver in the history of Formula One after securing a remarkable promotion to a race seat at McLaren for the 2019 season. The precocious talent, who only turns 19 in November, finds himself poised to emulate Lewis Hamilton by joining the country’s most decorated team as a rookie.

While Norris had long been identified as an F1 star-in-waiting, his elevation to motorsport’s highest echelon came much sooner than expected, with McLaren forced to move quickly in the wake of Fernando Alonso’s decision to retire. The team had intended to give him a second year in the feeder series of Formula Two before contemplating any switch to the main event, but after Norris’ impressive F1 practice displays in Spa and Monza, it was felt the time was right to reward him with the drive full-time, in place of the underwhelming Stoffel Vandoorne.

It is a breathtaking honour for one so young and as yet untested. McLaren, having already supplanted Alonso with Carlos Sainz Jr, had other options for their second seat: Esteban Ocon, for example, an outstanding product of Mercedes’ junior drivers programme and with 132 F1 points to his name at the age of 20. But in a fascinating case of history repeating, they looked in-house to anoint the next boy-king. Just as Lewis Hamilton learned his trade under McLaren’s umbrella throughout his teenage years, Norris has been amply supported by the team for the past 18 months.

Here, though, the parallels should end. True, both are homegrown prodigies with Formula Three titles on their CVs, but their upbringings and personalities are diametrically opposed. Hamilton grew up in a council house in Stevenage, while Norris, who attended Millfield School and whose father Adam has made a £200 million fortune in financial services, has seldom wanted for financial backing for his dreams. Where Hamilton has always exuded a certain alpha-male bravado – he famously told Ron Dennis as a 10-year-old, “I want to be racing your cars one day” – Norris has remained the understated type, whose first interviews as an F1 test driver were notable largely for their timidity.

Still, McLaren have seen enough to convince them that he has the pedigree to succeed. Norris has been harvesting titles in the junior formulae since his arms were long enough to grip a steering wheel, and he lies second in this year’s F2 standings, just 18 points adrift of compatriot George Russell. The speed of his rise had piqued the interest of other F1 teams, not least Toro Rosso, who made an inquiry earlier this summer about taking him on loan. McLaren, for all their recent struggles, would not hear of it. “We believe Lando is an exciting talent, full of potential, who we have very deliberately kept within the McLaren fold for exactly that reason,” Zak Brown, the chief executive, said on Monday.

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And yet such moves are rarely dictated by ability alone. While Norris has proved he is worthy of usurping Vandoorne, who has qualified dead last for the last two grands prix, he also carries cachet as the only British driver confirmed for the 2019 grid besides Hamilton. McLaren have been dealt an incalculable commercial blow by the departure of Alonso, a double world champion and a headline attraction for sponsors, and need a figure around whom they can plausibly shape their future. In the circumstances, the leap of faith to blood Norris in the big-time is about the best statement they could have made.

Posting a childhood picture of himself spinning around in a go-kart, Norris wrote: “If I could go back and tell this guy he would be a McLaren F1 driver in 2019, he wouldn’t believe me. Amazing opportunity. Dream come true.” It was also a source of profound pride for his father, a wealthy investor who once harboured his own aspirations to compete at the Tour de France, even taking a year out to race in Europe as a tour cyclist.

Now, he can live such ambitions through his son. By any standard, Norris Jr is extraordinarily young to be handed such a chance, when even Hamilton had to wait until he was 22 to make his F1 debut. The background, admittedly, is different: Hamilton was stepping into a car with championship credentials, while Norris is inheriting a McLaren machine so deeply flawed that even a points finish is a bonus. And where Hamilton today has glittering properties everywhere from Monte Carlo to Los Angeles, the young pretender is still sharing a flat in Guildford. Not, one senses, for much longer.